Back in TLB20 we published a series of ‘horrorscopes’ – reworked daily horoscopes that, because of their adjustments, perhaps better reflect actual life.

Here is what one of the creators, Matthew Carroll, had to say about it at the time (he worked with Stephen Pham on these artistic marvels):

Working in a market research call centre places certain restrictions on your autonomy.

You can’t hold any conversation with co-workers for more than ten seconds before someone picks up a ringing phone however many kilometres away, and invariably asks if you’re aware it’s dinner time (it’s always dinner time, somewhere).

Faced with nothing but the company’s allowance of MX’s puzzle page, I became transfixed on the horoscope section while phrases like, “which brand” and “on a scale of one to ten” fell from my mouth into the receiver. I picked up the pen and defaced a Gemini first.

There I discovered the joy in taking the often hopeful, vague, and reaffirming tone of the average horoscope, and corrupting them into something ominous, sardonic, and mostly nonsensical.

Bringing home my scribbles like a kindergarten kid who can’t wait to show their best drawings from play time, soon enough my housemate Stephen Pham and I jokingly started sharing our collective efforts on a Tumblr.

We’ve been blessed with many ‘successes’ from this venture, which we’ve summarised below with our reactions:

Most of our work happens in and around Naarm, the sovereign land of the Eastern Kulin nation. We acknowledge the true land owners, the Wurundjeri, and pay respect to indigenous Elders past and present everywhere.